Two weeks after we opened, Jason Allen from The Nudge came for dinner. His review went live on 1 October and went out in The Nudge's newsletter the same day, under the headline "A Refurbed Victorian Pub With A Great Restaurant Above It". It's a pretty fair summary of what we've been trying to do, so here's a look at what he found, starting downstairs.
"A proper boozer"
Jason opens with one of Marc's stories. "I got kicked out of one of my own pubs once," says Marc Francis-Baum, who founded Barworks and reopened George & Dragon. "I just popped outside to make a phone call, and my own bouncer didn't recognise me. Told me I couldn't come back in with a drink."That won't happen here. As Jason puts it: "Everyone knows Marc, and it feels like a proper boozer: pints being pulled, tables full, conversations bouncing off the walls."That's the ground floor we set out to build. It's a local first. People come in for a pint after work, stay for a scotch egg, and bump into someone they know.
A Victorian pub, with the scars to prove it
George & Dragon first opened in 1889, and the building is Grade II-listed. Plenty of the original Victorian detail survives, and the review singles out one piece in particular: "the extraordinary mosaic floor depicting the pub's namesake, St George, doing what St George does best (having a robust, spear-based disagreement with a dragon)."Look closely and part of that mosaic is broken. "See that?" Marc says in the review, pointing it out. "That's bomb damage from the Blitz." It's been there so long that we've chosen to preserve it rather than repair it. Restoring a pub like this is mostly about knowing what to leave alone.As Jason says: "This place is old fashioned, and feels old fashioned. But there is something very new, and rather excellent going on upstairs..."
Upstairs: Island
On the first floor is Island, the surf and turf restaurant from Tom Brown and Brad Carter, now in its first permanent home. The review describes it as having "atmosphere in buckets: wooden floors, white tablecloths, candles flickering on every table."The idea behind Island is simple. "Brown made his name cooking seafood; Carter made his cooking meat," Jason writes, and between them the two chefs have picked up three Michelin stars. The menu puts both sides together, which he calls "essentially a palace of protein from land and sea".A few of the dishes he picked out:Oysters with Island's Jungle Mignonette, made with jalapeño, coriander, pineapple and shallot, for "something punchy, bright and vibrant"Steak tartare with prawn crackers, and piri-piri chicken with crab sauceA lamb belly skewer with clams in betweenSlow-cooked beetroot with green sauce and mushroom salsa, which he called "delicious"The Island Mixed Grill: prawns, scallops, lamb chops, sausages, steak and spiced chicken wings on one platter. "It is basically a small farmyard beside the seaside, served on a plate. And it's lovely."To finish, there's "an excellent, sharp key lime pie, or a towering wedge of chocolate cake big enough for two people."
Two floors, one building
The line we'll keep coming back to is Jason's last one:
"Island is an ambitious restaurant run by two seriously decorated chefs, but it doesn't feel marooned in some glossy dining room. It's sitting above a packed, beautiful, historic London pub where you can wander downstairs afterwards and have a pint."
That's the whole idea. Dinner upstairs, a pint downstairs, or both, in whichever order suits you.
The Nudge scored George & Dragon 7.9 out of 10. Read Jason Allen's full review on The Nudge. If you'd like a second opinion, we were also in Broadsheet's First Look.
Visit George & Dragon
You'll find us at 240 St John Street, London EC1V 4PH, a short walk from Angel. The pub is open for drinks and bar snacks. For dinner upstairs, book a table at Island. Please choose Island when you book, so we know you're heading upstairs.